This invention relates generally to air-conditioning systems for vehicles and, more particularly, the invention relates to vehicle air-conditioning systems that employ both air-distribution and air-return ducts that extend to substantial portions of the interiors of the vehicles.
Vehicles of various types, including recreational vehicles such as mobile homes, motor homes, travel trailers, fifth wheelers, recreational vans and the like, commonly are provided with systems for conditioning the air of the interior of the vehicles. These air-conditioning systems typically include air-conditioning units such as, for example, air conditioners that can supply cool air to the vehicle interiors and heat pumps that can selectively furnish cool or warm air to the vehicle interiors. The air-conditioning units are often times mounted at the rooftops of the vehicles.
Typically, the air-conditioning systems include ducts for distributing the conditioned air to the vehicle interiors through registers in the ducts. The ducts and registers can be designed so that the volume of conditioned air delivered or discharged to various locations within the vehicle interiors may be selectively controlled and adjusted. Thus, if it is desired to quickly cool a particular location within a vehicle interior, the registers that control the volume of air discharged to other locations within the vehicle interior can be closed so that a greater volume of cool air is delivered to that particular location than would otherwise be the case. Generally, however, approximately equal volumes of conditioned air are delivered throughout the interior of the vehicle.
Proper operation of the air-conditioning systems requires that unconditioned air within the vehicle interior be removed and/or recycled as conditioned air is delivered to the vehicle interior. The air that is removed and/or recycled typically originates in a central, localized portion of the vehicle interior, usually directly below the air-conditioning unit, and most often is returned to the air-conditioning unit where it is recycled as conditioned air, although the removed air can be expelled to the atmosphere. It would be useful to be able to remove and/or recycle the air from outlying areas within the vehicle, such as the side areas of the vehicle, and the present invention provides for that capability.